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Operation Trojan Horse

As the controversy rages about the credibility of the allegations, i want these allegations to be false as the fallout from them being true will make it very difficult for people to trust muslims and especially muslim educators like me. From what has been reported so far, i am still hopeful that it will turn out to be complete rubbish.

This has been reported on quite extensively in the Times for some time now, but it's a subscription only service so the content doesn't come under the same scrutiny as the free news channels.

I don't really know what to make of it so far. On the one hand it's Birmingham where there is quite a lot of Salafi type Muslims in circulation. On the other, Michael Gove is involved, and he's always been something of a Crusader similar to Blair, and whipping up public paranoia probably isn't beyond him.

As far as I understand it, its an attempt by Whabbis to take over Schools in Birmingham.

I think you're giving 'whabbis' far too much credit, if you really want to influence a country, then giving the next generation the right education is really the way to go but i doubt the 'extremists' have thought that far ahead

The point is beyond 'islamists' and trojan horses

It's to do with academies and opposition to them mainly by those who oppose the government against gove who has introduced more academies
By maligning certain acadamies for being islamicentric and being too indepedent from the national curriculum, it gives an opportunity for critics of academies to brush all academies under the same carpet

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"

The whole 'conspiracy' and 'take over' thing is being overplayed. It's simply like minded parents getting together and dictating how these schools are run and because these parents are in the majority then they've got the right to do this.

The idea to give parents complete say in the running of schools was a stupid one to start with imo - experts should run schools, not parents. Just like the NHS which is, mostly, run by clinicians and not patients.

The whole 'conspiracy' and 'take over' thing is being overplayed. It's simply like minded parents getting together and dictating how these schools are run and because these parents are in the majority then they've got the right to do this.

The idea to give parents complete say in the running of schools was a stupid one to start with imo - experts should run schools, not parents. Just like the NHS which is, mostly, run by clinicians and not patients.

According to russel hobby, the general secretary of the naht

He will say: "A tight network of religious leaders of the Islamic faith has made a concerted effort to get involved in the running of schools, and to strengthen the power of governing bodies to have a dominant influence in shaping the character of local schools.

"It is not clear that they have done anything wrong just by doing this. Indeed, such actions are officially encouraged."

The issue with the schools are they ban drama and sex education and employ staff only based on religion which is fair enough if you're a church or mosque but not if you're a school

I agree with mr Hobby that it's a good thing for parents to get involved in the running of schools and playing a leading role in the upbrining of young children in their area as ultimately they are guardians for the children in their area and will be examined for this on the day of judgement

We have posters saying parents only sent their kids to madrasahs where they put their head down and speak parrot fashion but if parents are incorporaing a more righteous ethic into their children's education , the children will get the best of both worlds..

"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles"

Independent Muslim schools in London are being investigated amid fears that hardline Islamic extremism is being promoted among pupils and staff,
As many as a dozen private schools in Tower Hamlets, east London, are being looked into by officials over reports that fundamentalism is being spread, MailOnline can reveal.
A Whitehall source said while investigations are in 'their very early stages', there is concern within the Department of Education over a number of fee-paying Muslim schools in the borough which has one of the strongest Muslim communities in the capital.

This has all along been an Establishment plot to denigrate Muslims and create Islamophobia.

Gove the neo-con was central to the plot and indeed included a Chapter in his 2006 book Celsius 7/7 titled 'Trojan Horse'

There were several newspaper articles about it the original letter which sparked the enquiry being a hoax.

Gove as part of his 'enquiry' immediately prejudiced the outcome by appointing the former anti-terror branch Met Police officer Peter Clarke to look into the 'incidents'.

The Education Select Committee found little to no evidence of any plots after a wide ranging enquiry and interviewing numerous witnesses. http://www.parliament.uk/business/co...chools-report/
Launching the report, Extremism in schools: the Trojan Horse affair, Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Committee, said:

"One incident apart, no evidence of extremism or radicalisation was found by any of the inquiries in any of the schools involved. Neither was there any evidence of a sustained plot, nor of significant problems in other parts of the country. The Trojan Horse affair is less about extremism than about governance and the ability of local and central agencies to respond to whistle-blowers and to correct abuses of power within schools.

We found a worrying and wasteful lack of co-ordination between the inquiries carried out by the DfE, Birmingham City Council, the Education Funding Agency, Ofsted and others. In the case of the Birmingham schools, the number of overlapping inquiries contributed to the sense of crisis and confusion.

Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Ofsted’s framework and the reliability and robustness of its judgements. Ofsted must act to restore confidence in the inspectorate.

The British values which are now to be promoted in all schools are universal and deserving of support. Monitoring how these are promoted in individual schools must be done with common sense and sensitivity."

Disciplinary hearing told that three staff in one of Birmingham schools allegedly infiltrated by religious extremists handed document to male students

Teachers at a school embroiled in the Trojan horse scandal distributed a document to male pupils claiming wives could not refuse sex from their husbands, a professional disciplinary hearing has heard.

A former teacher at Park View school in Birmingham told the hearing she was “absolutely horrified” when she was made aware of the document.

The teacher, who can be identified only as Witness A, said it was given to the pupils by three male staff members who were teaching sex education lessons at the school, including Akeel Ahmed and Inamulhaq Anwar, who are facing disciplinary hearings by the National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL).

Tahir Alam, former chair of governors at Park View Educational Trust in Birmingham, accused of ‘undermining British values’

Ahmed and Anwar – who both taught at Park View, one of the state schools at the centre of the Trojan horse allegations of a conspiracy to promote conservative Islamic practices – are alleged to have taken part in “unacceptable professional conduct” as part of a group attempting to impose “an undue amount of religious influence in the education of pupils”.

Witness A, who appeared before the tribunal at the NCTL’s Coventry headquarters via video link, said she had been in charge of sex and relationship education for a period at Park View. She claimed the male teachers, including Ahmed and Anwar, did not teach male pupils about condom use “because within Islam you only have sex with your wife as a good Muslim that is what you do”.

The former teacher said another colleague confiscated a handout she said had been used in sex education lessons.

“I recall that the handout was on an A4 sheet of paper in black and white text and had a grainy image at the top, it looked like something that had been downloaded from the internet,” she said in her witness statement.

“Although I cannot remember the exact words I recall that the handout included phrases stating that a woman could not refuse her husband in marriage and that included that she could not say no to her husband having sex with her.

“The handout included quotes from the Qur’an, I recall that the wording was very strong and the best way I can describe it now is that it was along the lines of ‘hell, fire and damnation’ for any woman who said no to her husband including in matters of sexual intercourse.”

When the document was brought to the attention of school leadership, a special assembly was held and the boys told “that what they had been taught was not permitted in the eyes of British law and that it was rape,” she added.

Under cross-examination from Ahmed’s lawyer, Witness A said she could not be sure the document had been distributed by the three teachers, and agreed that it could have been downloaded by a pupil outside of the school. “I suppose I could be wrong,” she said.

The witness also claimed that some teachers at the school encouraged prefects to act as “a morality squad”, including informing staff about gossip involving pupils who were in a relationship. The pupils would be sent to the school’s isolation unit for at least a day and their parents informed, she said.

She said she had not raised any concerns about the school’s sex and relationships policy with Ofsted inspectors during their visit in January 2012, when the school was given an outstanding rating for pupil behaviour and safeguarding, and said she had been allowed to design a new sex education syllabus for the school.

The disciplinary hearings are the final act in the Trojan Horse saga, which has encompassed multiple investigations and changes of management within the schools involved following an anonymous letter that emerged in early 2014, alleging a widespread conspiracy by conservative Muslims.

The hearings continue this week, with more beginning next week that will include Lindsey Clark, Park View’s former headteacher, who was awarded an OBE for services to education, and Hardeep Saini, the school’s executive head at the time the Trojan horse letter was published. Although neither are Muslim, Clark and Saini are alleged to have allowed other staff and governors to impose undue religious influence.

The pair could be banned from teaching for life or for a period, with the final decision to be made by the education secretary, Nicky Morgan.

Other teachers and senior staff at Park View – which has since been renamed as Rockwood academy – and other schools including Oldknow academy in Birmingham will also come before the NCTL panel, with hearings expected to continue into next year.

Another anonymous witness, known as Witness C, told the panel that a group of teachers and governors, including Anwar, had sought to appoint a candidate for a teaching job at Nansen primary school – later to be managed by the Park View academy trust – against her wishes, alleging a conflict of interest.

Under cross-examination, Witness C said she had been outvoted by other members of the appointment panel, and said it had been a close decision, even though she thought the other candidate was more qualified.

10:03 am
Emma McKinney
Tanveer Qureshi, representing Akeel Ahmed, has urged the panel to disregard the media coverage of the hearing. Louise Price, representing Inamulhaq Anwar, also expressed the same things saying that they had found it “distressing”.

re-post as clearly some people here are commenting based on Daily Mail headlines rather than authoritative reports carried out by Parliamentary Select Committees...

Originally Posted by s28

This has all along been an Establishment plot to denigrate Muslims and create Islamophobia.

Gove the neo-con was central to the plot and indeed included a Chapter in his 2006 book Celsius 7/7 titled 'Trojan Horse'

There were several newspaper articles about it the original letter which sparked the enquiry being a hoax.

Gove as part of his 'enquiry' immediately prejudiced the outcome by appointing the former anti-terror branch Met Police officer Peter Clarke to look into the 'incidents'.

The Education Select Committee found little to no evidence of any plots after a wide ranging enquiry and interviewing numerous witnesses. http://www.parliament.uk/business/co...chools-report/Launching the report, Extremism in schools: the Trojan Horse affair, Graham Stuart, Chair of the Education Committee, said:

"One incident apart, no evidence of extremism or radicalisation was found by any of the inquiries in any of the schools involved. Neither was there any evidence of a sustained plot, nor of significant problems in other parts of the country. The Trojan Horse affair is less about extremism than about governance and the ability of local and central agencies to respond to whistle-blowers and to correct abuses of power within schools.

We found a worrying and wasteful lack of co-ordination between the inquiries carried out by the DfE, Birmingham City Council, the Education Funding Agency, Ofsted and others. In the case of the Birmingham schools, the number of overlapping inquiries contributed to the sense of crisis and confusion.

Questions have been raised about the appropriateness of Ofsted’s framework and the reliability and robustness of its judgements. Ofsted must act to restore confidence in the inspectorate.

The British values which are now to be promoted in all schools are universal and deserving of support. Monitoring how these are promoted in individual schools must be done with common sense and sensitivity."

Having attended the Tribunal hearings again today I have to say the evidence presented by the Prosecution counsel seems to amount to heresay based largely on a whatsapp transcript of dubious integrity and credibility with zero evidence of any direct impact on the childrens educational outcomes let alone any evidence of 'increased extremism'.

A lot of revisionism has gone on in the last few years but these schools were being lauded as outstanding success stories just a few years ago.

This is a remarkable school in many ways. Almost all pupils are Muslim, yet Park View is run by a white female headteacher and a Sikh deputy. Lindsey Clark, the headteacher, is able to reel off the names of the three pupils out of a cohort of 600 who are not of the Islamic faith. "I suppose it sounds a bit odd, but somehow it works," she says.

Park View serves a predominantly Muslim community in the deprived inner-city Alum Rock neighbourhood, and was rated outstanding in all areas by inspectors in 2012 and praised by David Cameron, the British prime minister, as a model of academic excellence.

The Prosecuting Counsels in the Tribunals for the Teachers involved in the so-called 'plot' seem to be rowing back from 'extremism' to simply 'undue religious influence' which seems to mean just having the occasional Islamic assembly or calls to prayer which are actually allowed / encouraged

The “Trojan horse” affair last year put Birmingham schools in the spotlight. Sadly, the spotlight and all the hysteria that went with it failed to reveal the real problems. These were partly the flaws in the government’s academisation policy.

In my school, Park View, the difficulties were nothing to do with religion or extremism, as was alleged. The main problem was one of too much, too soon, when we expanded to take over nearby schools as an academy sponsor. It’s this lesson the government should heed. But in Nicky Morgan’s new education bill it is clear that it has been missed or ignored, with its intention to convert 1,000 failing schools into academies in this parliament.

Park View was a terrific success story. It emerged from special measures in the early noughties. By 2012 it was one of the top performing non-selective schools, and the most oversubscribed, in Birmingham. So, with the expansion of academisation, it was a natural impulse for us to share our message and take over other schools. But as our trust expanded, our operation was weakened.

Within 12 months of Park View’s conversion to an academy in April 2012, following an outstanding grading by Ofsted, we had expanded to become a multi-academy trust of three schools, with another conversion in progress. Neither of the schools we took over was inadequate but they were in need of intense support to arrest falling results; the proposed fourth school had recently been placed in special measures. To try to turn these schools around we seconded members of our senior leadership team, as well as key staff in areas where specialised intervention was needed, such as special needs.

Unfortunately, this weakened the “mothership” (as we called it) of Park View, where I was an assistant principal. At one point, with secondments and retirements, we had a leadership team of just three, including a newly appointed acting principal. Having achieved our best ever set of GCSE results in 2012 – 76% 5 A*-C including English and maths – we were determined that our headline figures would be maintained. But this inevitably meant some things, such as quality assurance and policy reviews, regrettably fell by the wayside.

And it was these that Ofsted cited when it condemned us in March 2014. I’ll maintain until my dying day that these weaknesses were in no way serious enough to place us in special measures. Nevertheless, we left ourselves open to criticism as a direct consequence of stretching our talent thinly and neglecting – partly as a result of the sheer pace of expansion – to pay enough attention to succession planning.

Nicky Morgan is pressing her legislative pedal to the academising metal, oblivious to the lessons of Trojan horse
At the same time, we began the task of developing the architecture of a multi-academy trust. One of the results of the Trojan horse letter and the government’s panic about it was a tsunami of investigations. One was by the Education Funding Agency, which controls academy finances. I would say the EFA report on Park View was four parts hatchet job to one part justified criticism. But it was correct in saying that this expansion was beyond the capabilities of those leading the trust and that “the trust [did] not abide … by the terms of the academies financial handbook … [and the] governance arrangements for the trust [were] inadequate”.

Those well-meaning and sincerely passionate people never got to grips with the transition from running one school with local authority oversight to being in charge of three schools, some of which needed major change.

After the brokering of each takeover by civil servants or consultants, we were left by the Department for Education to improvise. We were essentially handed the academies financial handbook and told to get on with improving outcomes for some of the poorest pupils in Birmingham.

Michael Gove was busy recreating the wild west in the English educational landscape: those with the fastest horses won the most land and who cared what danger you faced when you got there? The administrative mess that followed was inevitable.

And now Morgan is pressing her legislative pedal to the academising metal, seemingly oblivious to the lessons of Trojan horse – or the over-expansion of other larger academy chains such as AET, United Learning Trust and E-Act.

To achieve her aim of conversion for every school in special measures she will need lots more schools like Park View – not just big chains – willing to risk diluting what they do best in order to help more pupils, whilst presumably still fumbling about in the dark to construct an appropriate trust structure. Far from preventing pupils from “languishing in underperforming schools”, as is her stated intention, a further acceleration of forced academisation without sufficient funding and support, has the potential to backfire, weakening high-performing schools as they take on a greater burden without the necessary support, thus jeopardising the education of more pupils, not fewer.

The government’s key witness in the Trojan horse teaching misconduct hearing has been accused of making a series of racial and religious slurs, a disciplinary hearing heard.

The allegations came as the woman, referred to as Witness A – a former staff member at Park View school in Birmingham – was cross-examined by lawyers for five senior staff and teachers accused of allowing “an undue amount of religious influence in the education of pupils” at the school.

The National College for Teaching and Leadership disciplinary panel heard Witness A – granted anonymity to give evidence – deny making a series of comments attributed to her in documents put before the panel, but not shown to the public.

Andrew Faux, a lawyer representing former headteachers at Park View, Monzoor Hussain and Hardeep Saini, asked the witness: “Did you, in a moment of anger, say: ‘These ****ing Muslims, they are so narrow minded’?”

“Never, ever,” the witness responded.

Witness A agreed she did “challenge a child” over their religious beliefs, saying: “If you cut your arm open you are not going to see clay.” Islamic teaching holds that God fashioned Adam out of clay.

“Yes I did say that, but not in an exasperated way,” the witness said.

The witness, who no longer works at the school, faced an internal complaint following comments she was alleged to have made at an event, based on documents included as evidence before the panel.

“Did you say anything about a Sikh member of staff and what he might keep under his turban?” Faux asked.

“No I did not,” she replied.

Faux continued: “Did you ever say Pakistanis are inbred and that’s why they are so thick?”

Some of the more striking things the Governments 'key witness' came out with

1. Insisted that a Rabbi who gave a talk at the school was 'anti-semitic' !
2. Claimed one group of teachers were all 'conservative muslims' when one of the group was actually follower of Sufi Islam rather than Salafi

The National Average hasn't gone down like that. There has been massive disruption at what was a successful school. Lots of supply teachers in , lots of the old successful teachers leaving because of the poisonous atmosphere created by the new Government imposed SLT. Pupils have been the losers.

I know of schools that have gone down even more but uncertainty can never help. As far as the individual student is concerned, they just need to work hard and concentrate but kids being kids, they will use every excuse not to study.

The decision is a latest setback for the DfE in its handling of allegations of Islamic influence at Park View secondary school in Birmingham dating back to 2014, and may hinder disciplinary hearings against others still under way.

In Birmingham’s high court the judge, Stephen Phillips, overturned the ban imposed against two former Park View teachers, Inamulhaq Anwar and Akeel Ahmed, on the grounds of “serious procedural impropriety”, because of the DfE’s failure to reveal evidence used in other cases to the pair.

The two teachers were appealing against findings of unacceptable professional conduct by a disciplinary panel of the National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL), and their lifetime bans from teaching which were imposed by the education secretary earlier this year.

But Justice Phillips said the NCTL had erred in not disclosing evidence and arguments it was using in its concurrent hearings against members of the senior leadership team (SLT) at Park View and its associated schools, involving three former headteachers.

In his judgment Phillips said he had “considerable doubt as to the fairness of proceeding first against teachers” before their school leaders, and concluded that the NCTL was “obliged to disclose material from the SLT proceedings which might assist the [teachers’] case or damage its own”.

after months and months and months of disgusting Right Wing tabloid headlines about 'Trojan Horse' this and 'Trojan Horse' that and 'WATCH out MUSLIMS are teaching kids !!!' nonsense the case gets quietly dropped...

Note the ridiculously banal headline

'Case dropped'

Not the explosive 'Government lawyers corrupted the legal process by not revealing witness statements to the DEFENCE lawyers'

Lest we forget the Headteacher of the main Trojan Horse school was a White English 'superhead' Lindsey Clark who had brought the school up from being one of the worst to one of the best in terms of GCSE A-C passes and earned an OBE

Lawyers for Ms Clark said in a statement: 'Ms Clark is hugely relieved that this debacle is over.
'She is utterly spent - both emotionally and psychologically. She is exhausted as a result of the allegations she has had to defend herself against.
'Although Ms Clark is pleased that the proceedings are not continuing, today's victory is a hollow one. She had very much fought for, and sought to obtain, a verdict clearing her of any wrongdoing. This now is no longer possible.
'The fact that the proceedings are now discontinued will not relieve the pain or remove the stain on an otherwise unsullied, indeed exceptional, career.'

Attended this event in Birmingham today. Hopefully the fightback from the teachers, pupils, parents will continue. They were horribly abused by the Government in a politically motivated plot which will go down alongside Hillsborough and Orgreave in one of the great miscarriages of justice in British history.

Its destructive impact on the education of children in Park View (Rockwood) and Nansen Academies.

Three years on, following the Islamophobic ‘fictional’ narrative perpetuated by Michael Gove (DfE), Peter Clarke, Ian Kershaw, and Michael Wilshaw (Ofsted), Tahir Alam will candidly and evidentially evaluate the impact on these schools by contrasting the before, and after, intervention situations.

Key questions to be addressed:

How have Park View and Nansen schools changed following the interventions?
Academic performance improved or declined?
Successful schools or failing schools?
Discrimination and Islamophobia diminished or increased for Muslim children?
What are the implications for the future?
An event for every parent & who care about the education of children – all welcome. NOT TO BE MISSED! There will be a Question and Answer session.

Date: Wednesday 19th July 2017

Time: Arrival 6.45pm for 7 pm start (finish 9pm)

Place: PCM Church Com. Hall, 12 Naseby Road, Alum Rock, B’ham B8 3HE

Speaker profile: Tahir Alam

Former chair of Park View Educational Trust (Multi-Academy Trust)
18 years of experience in successfully improving inner-city schools
Specialist in School Governance & Strategic School Improvement
Former School Inspector (Ofsted) & National Leader of Governance (NLG)
Author of ‘Meeting the Needs of Muslim Children in State Schools’
PG Diploma – Mechanical & Production Engineering (BCU)
MA Islamic Studies (Uni. of Birmingham)
MA Philosophy of Education (University College London)

Find it interesting that many who contributed to this thread when there was only speculation/accusations and seemed quite happy to believe negative stories which played to their preconceptions and tropes are silent now when the cases have collapsed. It seems Innocent until proven Guilty is something the 'liberals' only spout as rhetoric not a principle they live by.